


Home (Is Wherever I’m With You)

by eliospiano



Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017) RPF
Genre: Best Friends, Complications, Flashbacks, Growing Up, High School, Love, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Secrets, they’re touchy, what is hetero i’ve never met her??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 16:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17267282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliospiano/pseuds/eliospiano
Summary: “All Tim can think about is how different Armie’s house looks when he’s not immediately invited in. When he’s a guest rather than a resident.“Timmy and Armie have been friends since they were little. Being in high school together has had its ups and downs, but nothing can keep them apart...at least until Armie finds out Timmy’s secret...





	Home (Is Wherever I’m With You)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Yes, this is probably very cheesy but that’s okay. Please keep in mind that Armie and Timmy are only one year apart in this fic.  
> *Also please note that italics indicate a flashback!!  
> Feedback is always welcome :)

All Tim can think about is how different Armie’s house looks when he’s not immediately invited in. When he’s a guest rather than a resident.

Looking at it from this point of view makes him feel like a stranger, even after all these years.

“Armie?”, Timothee raps on the large cherry-wood front door with his knuckles, not exactly lightly but not with a large amount of force either.

He knocks with purpose, with an allegiance that screams “i want you to let me in but I understand if you don’t want to and won’t push it too far because I know your parents might be sleeping.”

If Armies parents woke up now to find Timmy standing there at 12:32 in the morning on a Wednesday, he’d surely be grounded.

“Armie, please, please open the door, I know you’re there.” He knocks again, but with less meaning this time, as if he’s come to terms with the fact that his constant begging won’t help his argument of getting into the house and eye to eye with Armie.

“You weren’t supposed to find out this way, you know!”, he pleads, turning around and facing the driveway when he realizes he’s not getting in tonight.

He fiddles with the zipper of his black patagonia jacket, blowing air at the mess of curls falling down his forehead. He’s momentarily distracted by the burning of his eyes, which could be because he’s on the verge of crying, or because he forgot his eye drops at home. He’s not quite sure which.

“You weren’t really supposed to find out at all,” Timmy whispers this last part with a huff, sliding down the front door on his back and landing on the welcome mat on his butt.

Without looking, he knows the mat says, “home”, in all lowercase letters, the ‘o’ traded for a heart; he knows because he and his mother picked it out for them last Christmas.

Timmy stares out at the front yard over his chucks, the same yard he had learned to throw a football on when he was seven.

•••

“ _Make sure you line you fingers up on the top of the laces”, an 8-year-old Armie shows him, bending over the front of the ball and using his hands to move Timmy’s fingers to the right places, his tongue between his teeth in stiff concentration._

_The grass is greener than ever and the sun feels warm on Timmy’s pale skin._

_“One finger between every other lace. Like this”, Armie finishes, blonde hair spilling from his baseball cap, stepping back for the action._

_“Does this look right?”, Timmy looks up with big green eyes at Armie confused, holding the football up with his thin arm._

_Armie cocks his head to one side before grinning, his left front tooth missing._

_“Looks great. Now wind your arm up and throw. Make sure your fingertips are the last thing to leave the ball.”_

_Armie runs backwards to get ready for Timmy’s throw._

_After adjusting his feet according to how Armie had told him earlier, Timmy gears his arm backward, stopping just before the release._

_“Don’t laugh”, Timmy says pointedly, and Armie laughs._

_“Just throw the ball Chalamet.”  
_

_•••_

Timmy sits there for a few minutes staring at nothing, remembering the simplicity of their childhood friendship. He’s not sure what to do now, but let’s himself look around at the front porch he grew up on more than he did his own.

Somehow, with his secret out, everything looks a little different than before. Everything looks a little clearer, maybe, although it could be his new prescription contacts.

He rolls his lip between his teeth before eventually getting up; he dusts himself off, walks down the front steps, and reluctantly climbs into his almost brand new car.

Timmy starts the engine and backs down the drive without another look at the house.

He knows if he glanced up right now he’d see the blue lighting from Armies window on the second floor, but refuses to look as he drives away from his second-home.

•••

“ _Have you ever thought about climbing the tree by your window to get to your room?”, 12 year old Timmy asks Armie, who just had a growth spurt last week._

_This means that, although Timmy has grown a little too in the last few months, Timmy has to crane his neck even farther back to see his best friend’s blue eyes and blank facial expression._

_“No...I actually haven’t...but we could always try!”, Armie is at the age where he climbs everything, so the fact that this thought hadn’t occurred to him is a shell shock._

_“Do you think it’s safe?”, Timmy asks in a high-pitched voice as Armie makes his way to the tree._

_“It was your idea!”_

_“Yea I know but I didn’t think you would actually do it”, Timmy shrugs._

_“Well i’m going up”, Armie begins to climb, using each branch like the rings of a ladder._

_Everything goes great until Armie reaches the top, grabbing onto a branch that was unfortunately unable to hold his weight._

_The snap of the tree branch made Timmy jump more than the sight of his friend falling to the ground with a thud and a crack of a bone._

_They would find out shortly Armie had broken his elbow. This would be their first of three times they end up at the hospital together._

_“Does it hurt?”, Timmy asked Armie when his cast was put on. He felt guilty that he had hurt his friend._

_“No, man. Not too bad”, he responded, attempting to cover his pain._

_Armie knew Tim would feel like it was his fault and didn’t want him to beat himself up over it._

_He was also aware that he had his own brain and made his own decisions, and when his mom told him later on that he and Timmy needed to play with other people, his figured this would definitely be the best thing for Timmy._

_This was also the first time Timmy was grounded from Armie._

_“You can’t see him for 1 week. Hopefully it’ll give you enough time to play with other kids”, his mother said to him after picking him up from Armie’s house after they’d returned from the hospital._

_“But mom...”, Timmy had pleaded, thinking the punishment was a little over the top._

_“No, Timothee. His mother and your father and I all agree you need a little time apart. Go to your room please, I’ll call you when dinner is ready”, she turned away from him then to go to the fridge, knowing Timmy would follow orders._

_Timmy didn’t think it was true, but trudged up to his room regardless._

_Later that night he shoved a pillow over his head as he heard his parents arguing that Armie was a bad influence on him._


End file.
